Field Guide, Jochen Lempert’s exhibition of black and white photographs at the Contemporary Art Gallery, is audacious in its simplicity. Trained as a biologist, Lempert’s eye is driven to capture things empirically, but he subverts the potential coldness of study with his pronounced compositional choices, resulting in pictures that carry surprising whimsy. 
Jochen Lempert, My garden
Captured in four frames, My garden is shot from above and documents a low-flying bird and its shadow traversing a suburban cobblestone sidewalk. A woman on a bench nearby looks on, her small adjustments are also captured in this sequence. Encroaching bushes on the left side of the frame, and two parked cars on the right enclose this visual parallel between woman and bird. Vanessa atalanta migration focuses the camera on a butterfly resting on the pane of the artist’s studio window. He is able to identify the species of this butterfly – Red Admiral – as well as acknowledge that this is not a mere poetic incident, but a pause on the butterfly’s migratory path. Works such as these are exemplary of Lempert’s harmony between observation and artful propositions.
All of the prints are hung bare on the wall, gripping to the surface with nothing more than tape. Rather than forcing the hand of a pristine presentation, the slight curl of the photo paper accompanies the natural forms and activities in the picture. Everything from the installation to content – mainly depictions of plants and animals – comes across as a rather basic exercise in photographic depiction. And that is precisely what it is. It is all the more satisfying as a viewer to feel confident that what they are seeing needs nothing more and didn’t need much to begin with.
Contemporary Art Gallery: http://www.contemporaryartgallery.ca/
Jochen Lempert: Field Guide continues until July 17.
Steffanie Ling's essays, criticism, and art writing have been published alongside exhibitions, in print, and online in Canada and the United States. She is the editor of Bartleby Review, an occasional pamphlet of criticism and writing in Vancouver, and a curator at CSA Space. She is Akimblog’s Vancouver correspondent and can be followed on Twitter and Instagram @steffbao.
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Jochen Lempert at the Contemporary Art Gallery
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